Matthew Roy
Birchwood Terrace
Twelve more residents and one employee of the Birchwood Terrace nursing home in Burlington have the coronavirus, the facility said in a press release Friday evening.
The new cases bring Birchwood's total infection count to 26 residents. It is the second largest known outbreak of COVID-19 in Vermont. At another Queen City nursing home, Burlington Health & Rehabilitation Center, more than 30 staff and residents have tested positive for the disease.
Nearly one in four of Birchwood's 112 residents have now tested positive, just days after the facility learned of its first infection on Monday. Test results on the other patients came back negative, executive director Alecia DiMario said in a statement. The infected patients are receiving "the full medical care they need," she said.
All staff members are also being tested. The remaining results are expected over the weekend. The one coronavirus-positive worker "feels fine," DiMario said.
"We continue to take extreme precautions to protect our residents, their families, and our staff," the statement continued. "Residents are still being closely monitored and screened, no visitors are allowed except at end of life, staff are being screened and receiving temperature checks twice per day. We also continue to be in close contact with the Vermont Department of Health and UVM Medical Center and are following their guidance."